A Hispanic Voice

Opinion

Our Position: A Plan To Give Hispanics More Political Influence Deserves Approval.

February 4, 2002|By Indigo

Central Florida Hispanics don't have the political voice that they deserve. If they miss gaining that voice in the current redistricting process, they could be shortchanged for the next 10 years.

Consider that even though one of five Central Floridians is Hispanic, Hispanics don't hold any of the region's 18 state House, seven state Senate or five congressional seats. That's mostly because Hispanic growth didn't mushroom until after the last redistricting in 1992. But with the new redistricting, Hispanics' large and growing numbers argue for more representation.

The best idea to address this shortcoming is contained in a plan that will be considered today by the House Redistricting Committee. That plan calls for creating a legislative district that would go from the Goldenrod area on the Orange-Seminole line, through east Orlando, down to Pine Castle in south Orange and into the sprawling Buenaventura Lakes community in Osceola County.

This plan would create a district that is reasonably compact and, as required by court decisions, contains several communities of common interests that have nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It not only has similar income levels and housing types, but also shared transportation corridors and an economic base of small businesses.

That district also would be 41 percent Hispanic, a number that would grow during the next 10 years. Even though the courts ruled that ethnicity can't be the primary reason for drawing district lines, those demographic factors can be considered.

The beauty of this plan is that it avoids many of the pitfalls encountered in the past when districts were created to give minorities a political voice. For one thing, this plan avoids extreme, confusing gerrymandering. Probably the best local example of extreme racial gerrymandering is U.S. House District 3, which stretches from Jacksonville to Orlando.

To ensure that a black candidate could win an election, almost every black neighborhood between Jacksonville and Orlando was included. This left surrounding districts almost entirely white. So there was no reason for the members representing those districts to spend any political capital addressing issues important to black voters.

Even though the proposed state House district includes a concentration of Hispanics, there still remain sizable Hispanic populations in surrounding districts. That puts pressure on those representing other districts to pay attention to issues important to Hispanics. It also opens the door for Hispanics to run in other districts.

Making way for Hispanics to be heard does not infringe on other minority groups or the white majority. There should be room at the leadership table for everyone to be heard. That's the only way to build the consensus needed to address this state's critical problems in areas such as education, growth and economic development.